DIARY

DIARY

By HUBERT B. HERRING

Published: January 12, 1997

THE LOPEZ WARS

Feel Better Now, G.M.?

Nobody, but nobody, pushes General Motors around: that seemed to be G.M.'s attitude in its four-year fistfight with Volkswagen. Yes, yes, a hotshot G.M. executive named Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua defected to VW, taking with him a few colleagues and, his accusers say, cartons of ''trade secrets.'' But has anyone suggested that VW then started turning out bootleg Chevrolet Cavaliers? That VW drew any serious blood? Well, no. It seemed mainly a pride thing, and G.M. demanded satisfaction -- like an abject apology and, say, $3 billion or $4 billion to ease the pain. Last week, though, it settled for far less: $100 million, still huge by corporate-espionage standards. And did VW apologize? Well, sort of. It acknowledged the ''possibility'' of ''illegal activities.''

STOCK MARKETS

As the World Turns

The world's financial markets seem to be on a giant seesaw: the more stock prices rise in the United States, the more they fall in Japan. In many ways, the two countries' markets are unrelated. American stocks just keep soaring -- yes, yawn, more records last week -- because they've forgotten how to do anything else, while Japan is plagued by a stagnant economy and bank troubles. But here's one link: American investors have pulled money out of Japan, compounding both the good times here and the bad times there.

COCA-COLA

When in Doubt, Redesign

The soda can speaks of timelessness: Coca-Cola ''Classic,'' it assures us. It's ''Always.'' It's ''Unique.'' And the stuff inside most definitely stays the same -- no way is Coke going to mess with that again. But for all the intimations of eternity, Coke just can't stop tinkering with the can. Add a ribbon -- a ''dynamic ribbon,'' if you please -- or subtract a ribbon. Enlarge, or tilt, the photograph of the old bottle. (Why adorn a container with a photo of a container? Oh, you just don't understand.) And now Coke -- probably the world's most recognized brand -- has done it again, introducing yet another look. Does it really imagine that shoppers, poised in the supermarket aisle, muttering, ''Coke or Pepsi? Coke or Pepsi? Hmmm. Which has the newest design?'' Apparently so.

REAL ESTATE

Helmsley, Man and Image

''Helmsley,'' over the years, has become an odd sort of name, evoking such a jarring mix of images. Here's the overriding image: of truly serious New York real estate, of the empire built over many decades by Harry Helmsley. But then, yes, there's Leona -- first the mighty queen of the spotless hotel, the ultimate in demanding bosses, then the humbled queen, jailed for tax evasion. The rival images maintained a delicate coexistence even as Mr. Helmsley's health faded. (He was deemed unfit to face tax-evasion charges himself.) But with Mr. Helmsley's death last weekend, all the rules have changed. Though some lawsuits remain to be resolved -- and though Mr. Helmsley did leave some pocket change, $25,000, to his long-time secretary -- his widow is practically the sole heir to his $1.7 billion fortune. New York City, meet the undisputed queen.

INAUGURAL SHOPPER

Get Your Instant History!

You can feel it. All across the land, Americans aren't wondering when the floods will stop, when that new job will appear, when cancer will be cured. No, they are asking themselves, ''What can I do to make the inauguration as lavish as possible?'' Well, the Inaugural Committee heard them, took pity on their anguish and called up QVC. So just tune in that shopping channel, and you will have the rare, one-time, golden opportunity to buy, say, a bronze inaugural medallion for just $36. That's $4 off, of course; it would be un-American to buy something that isn't on sale. Then, just think: one day, tears in your eyes, you can tell your grandchildren that, yes, you were there -- that in January of '97, the very month of the second Clinton inaugural, you were sitting in front of your TV set.

PRESERVATION

This Land Is Her Land

The idea of owning 51,000 acres in the Adirondacks seems wildly out of kilter -- it belongs to another era. And the vast Whitney estate was, in fact, carved out in the robber-baron days. But it's still there, in the heart of a six-million-acre park, and preservationists have been longing to add it to public lands. It's ''the missing puzzle piece,'' one environmental lobbyist said. Subdividing it would be ''the greatest disaster for the Adirondacks I could imagine.'' But Marylou Whitney, the society-queen heir to the estate, wants to do exactly that. Last week she proposed slicing off 15,000 of those acres and creating what in her circle are no doubt considered low-rent lots: a mere 300 acres each. And, oh yes: you could also buy Little Tupper Lake. It's all a ploy, some critics say, to drive up the price for the obvious buyer: New York State.

Graph: ''As the World Turns'' shows the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nikkei stock index, Oct.-Jan. (Source: Datastream) Map of New York highlighting the Whitney Estate in the Adirondacks.